Interconnected stories and a forthcoming family saga
Plus what we've learned from the PRH trial and 14 classics that should be movies
Hey, readers!
It feels so strange to be reading more than every the last couple weeks, but not be able to share everything here! I promise my evasiveness will end soon! Five for Fall, my first ever fall reading guide, will be out the first week of September. I’m trying to vet as many books as possible to come up with a hyper-curated list of five favorite reads that are perfect for any fall reading mood. I’ll be sharing additional titles with paying newsletter subscribers and Patreon members, so now is a great time to join if you’ve been considering it!
This week in books.
This week I read…
Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda. This work of interconnected short stories based on Japanese folktales is the FictionMatters Book Club selection for August. I’m not sure I can succinctly describe this book but I will say I loved the way it explored monstrosity, femininity, and the forced binaries of life—and death. I’m eager to discuss it with the amazing readers in book club because I’m sure there’s more nuance than I picked up on in my single reading. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm
Daughters of the New Year by EM Tran (out October 11). I read this book in advance for my fall reading guide and while it’s not quite right for the guide, I think a lot of readers will be interested in this one. This is a multigenerational family saga that moves backwards in time throughout the generations to explore the lives of a vastly different group of women. The book begins in New Orleans in the present day and we meet Xuan Trung, the matriarch of a Vietnamese immigrant family and the mother of three willful grown daughters. The book both alternates points of view and uses a nonlinear timeline to explore the daughters’ childhoods, Xuan’s life in Saigon, and extends further back into history to give us a sense of what makes this family who they are. There’s a great deal of humor and heart in this book, and while the structure is nonlinear, the storytelling is straightforward and compelling. Tran also includes a timeline of events to help follow along, which I great appreciated. I really enjoyed this book and think fans of Pachinko, Inheritors, and The House of Spirits will want to add this to their fall TBRs. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm
More secret fall release titles. I can’t wait to share Five for Fall the first week of September!
Now I’m reading…
More fall releases for my fall reading guide!
If you are an international reader or just prefer UK covers, you can also order books through my Blackwell’s affiliate page!
Links I love.
This article distills some of the major revelations from the PRH merger trial into the most fascinating behind-the-scenes takeaways about how publishing truly operates.
Is a book art or commerce? This New Yorker article asks, and attempts to answer, this huge question.
Salman Rushdie and the enduring risk of political art
I enjoyed reading The Talented Mr. Ripley with the FictionMatters Book Club last year, but a lot of our conversation (rightly) centered on Patricia Highsmith’s vile personal and political views. Highsmith’s biography is now being explored in both a documentary and a graphic novel and they each portray a very different version of the prolific author.
It’s been a year since the US withdrew from Afghanistan and Afghan women are sharing their stories in two powerful new anthologies.
Pop Culture Happy Hour is here to help you decide if the new Game of Thrones spin-off is right for you. If you do decide to watch the new HBO series, this explainer might help you get your bearings.
14 classic books that would make great movies (and aren’t Jane Austen).
End notes.
Five things making me happy this week:
Take two of our mountain getaway. We still have a ton of house things to do, but we’re going to head to Winter Park for two nights this week. We haven’t been to the mountains at all this summer and we’re very excited for Louise to try out her hiking backpack. For those who followed our previous mountain getaway saga, don’t worry, Bingley will be stay behind with my mom, whom he loves and adores.
Decluttering! So we have to declutter to photograph and stage our home, but wow, it is a great reminder of how freeing it is to have less stuff.
In-season produce. We are are not gardeners by any means but we’ve been very fortunate to get to eat some of the bounty from our friends’ tomato harvests. It’s also Palisade Peach season here in Colorado and picking up fresh peaches at the farm stands has been such a treat. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, Louise current favorite foods are tomato and peach and it’s been fun to watch her confidence and enjoyment of solid foods increase over the last couple weeks.
Reading on my Kindle. Probably 90% of my reading this year has been on audio, prior to that I was almost strictly a paper books reader. While paper books are still my preferred method and I love audio for the experience it adds and the ability to multitask while reading, I’m become increasingly more appreciative of my Kindle lately. As you know, I’ve been trying to read a lot of fall releases for Five for Fall, but I’m also packing and moving so I didn’t want to request a huge stack of paper galleys from publishers. I’ve been reading and sampling most of these upcoming books digitally and I think I’m getting through a lot more than I would have otherwise!
My new Madewell pull-on jeans. These were the big winner for me from my sale purchases, and they’re still on sale! The denim is so so soft, they feel like wearing pajamas but look fashionable and put together. Madewell is having a $75 jeans sale right now so this is a good time to snap a pair. I’ve had the Perfect Vintage Jean in Fitzgerald for years and they remain a favorite, and the Lunar wash also looks super cute. A more recent addition to my wardrobe
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Readers, I hope you’re gearing up for a great fall reading season! For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!
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Happy reading!
Sara